UCSD women’s crew continued their postseason pursuit of a trip to the National Collegiate Athletic Association’s Rowing Championships when they competed at Lake Natoma in Sacramento at the Pacific Coast Rowing Championships on May 17.
The PCRC determines which teams will represent the West Coast in the NCAA championships. Coach Patti Pinkerton said that the Tritons entered the event with the best boats she’s seen since she’s been head coach at UCSD. The Tritons entered six races: the collegiate novice four, collegiate Division II varsity eight, collegiate Division II varsity four, collegiate varsity lightweight four, open eight and collegiate novice lightweight four.
The Tritons first competed in the first heat of the collegiate novice four. USC would win the race at 8:00.3, followed by UCSD at 8:05.6, Cal at 8:14.0, Everett Community College at 8:28.5 and Santa Clara at 9:13.0. UCSD held its own against Division I rivals USC, UC Berkeley and Santa Clara.
The next race was the varsity eight, in which UCSD finished fourth out of four. Rival UC Davis finished first with 6:54.3, Western Washington second with 6:59.1, Humboldt State third with 7:00.8 and UCSD fourth with 7:12.5.
“”The varsity finished with the fastest time all year,”” Pinkerton said. “”They were just faster.””
The results in the varsity four were almost identical, but with a somewhat better twist. UC Davis again finished first (at 7:54.1) and WWU finished second (7:58.8). However, this time, UCSD beat Humboldt by 31.5 seconds and finished at 8:05.1.
The novice four boat raced next in the novice four final. USC, which finished first in the first heat, captured first again with 7:52.9. Local rivals SDSU just edged out UCSD to finish second with 8:04.1. UCSD was third with a time just 0.4 seconds behind SDSU. Sacramento State finished fourth with 8:07.1, WWU fifth with 8:22.0 and Cal sixth with 8:28.9.
UCSD’s lightweight boat has a great tradition and is currently ranked 13th in the nation. UCSD demonstrated dominance and won the race against Humboldt State and two Cal boats. UCSD was first at 8:02.0, Cal “”B”” second at 8:04.6, Humboldt State at 8:10.1 and Cal “”A”” fourth at 8:20.3.
The sixth race of the day was the open eight. Cal bounced back and took the race with 7:14.5, Oregon second place with 7:37.0 and UCSD third place with 7:56.1.
The collegiate novice lightweight four was the last race of the day for the Tritons. Sacramento State finished first with 8:31.8 and UCSD second with 8:35.1.
“”I’m really pleased with how our season went,”” Pinkerton said.
The question on every UCSD rower’s mind is whether or not they will be able to go the NCAA Championships in two weeks.
“”Right now our chances are 50-50,”” Pinkerton said. “”It depends on whether or not four [teams] will be chosen from the West. It’s between us and Rollins.””
The Tritons will find out this week whether or not their season will continue for another two weeks.
